Single-shell floor profile for a rail vehicle

ABSTRACT

A single-shell floor profile for a rail vehicle includes a floor plate and at least one reinforcing element, in which the reinforcing element runs parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and forms a hollow chamber profile with the floor plate.

The present invention relates to a single-shell floor profile for a rail vehicle. In particular, the present invention relates to a floor profile, which has a floor plate and at least one reinforcement element, wherein the reinforcement element extends parallel with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and forms a hollow-chamber profile with the floor plate.

PRIOR ART

Rail vehicles form complex multi-component systems whose material composition and structural configuration are limited by a large number of very different peripheral conditions. For instance, particularly the demands which are made in the field of rail vehicle construction with regard to safety, reliability, functionality and not least also the economic viability of the technical implementation constitute a complex challenge, which in other fields of vehicle construction of this type may not be encountered at all or may be encountered only in a reduced form.

Previously in the construction of floors in rail vehicles, there were used hollow-chamber profiles which have a significant construction height over the entire vehicle width of the rail vehicle shell. In particular in the region of the bogies of rail vehicles, the entire structural space available was thus occupied by the structural height of the floor profiles.

A bogie is a drive mechanism of a rail vehicle in which two or more sets of wheels are resiliently supported in a frame which can turn with respect to the carriage chassis on bends. This so-called dual turntable steering enables the construction of longer vehicles or line laying of the rails with a tighter radius of curvature.

Modern bogies in this instance have dual spring-mounting. On the one hand, the wheel sets are spring-mounted by means of the so-called primary spring-mounting with respect to the bogie frame. On the other hand, the bogie is spring-mounted by means of a cradle in the region of the bogie pivot which forms the connection between the carriage body and the bogie with respect to the carriage body of the rail vehicle by means of the so-called secondary spring-mounting.

The spring-mounting of the bogie with respect to the carriage body by the secondary spring-mounting in this instance improves the travel comfort of the rail vehicle. At high speed, the rigidity of the primary spring-mounting and the damping of the rotary movement by means of so-called rolling dampers becomes highly significant for the stability of the sine run of the wheel sets.

A sine run occurs with wheel/rail systems having conically profiled and rigidly coupled wheels in which the wheel profile tapers outward. On bends, the wheel which is outwardly displaced travels with a larger periphery on the rail than the wheel which is offset toward the track center. This remains recessed with respect to the outer wheel so that the axle steers into the bend. A sine run occurs in the event of a deviation of the rail guide from the ideal line which is overcompensated by the wheel profiling and thus leads to a rolling movement. This movement is at small amplitudes sinusoidal with a constant wavelength, the frequency increasing with the travel speed. At high speeds, additional dynamic forces occur and may occur to the extent of zig-zag travel with an abutment of the wheel flanges of the wheel sets on the rails so that measures for damping have to be taken in order to prevent excessive wear and significant impairments of comfort. It is therefore necessary in the region of the bogies to provide corresponding damping and spring-mounting components.

However, these require sufficiently free structural space, both for the installation thereof and for the maintenance thereof.

Furthermore, in the region of the bogies, there are also the drive motors of modern rail vehicles, which in turn take up a corresponding amount of structural space.

The control and supply lines which are intended to be guided through the region of the bogies are currently either guided through the hollow-chamber profile or laid in cable ducts which are mounted separately below the hollow-chamber profile, whereby the free structural space available is, however, significantly further reduced. Laying the supply and control lines through the hollow-chamber profile is in this instance extremely complicated in terms of assembly and very time-consuming since in this instance care has to be taken that the hollow-chamber profiles in which the lines are intended to be laid are free from any occurrences of contamination, such as, for example, welding defects, in order to prevent damage to the lines during assembly or during operation of the rail vehicle.

An object of the present invention is therefore to provide sufficient free structural space for assembling modern drive and spring-mounting systems in the region of bogies of rail vehicles.

This object is achieved according to claim 1. Specific embodiments of the invention are set out in the dependent claims.

To this end, there is provided according to the invention a floor profile, which has a floor plate and at least one reinforcement element, wherein the reinforcement element extends parallel with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and forms a hollow-chamber profile with the floor plate.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, consequently, there is proposed a floor profile which has a substantially reduced structural height with respect to the previously used hollow-chamber profiles at least in the region of the bogies of a rail vehicle, and consequently provides more free structural space for the components which are intended to be provided in the underfloor region of the rail vehicle.

The floor plate has in this instance localized reinforcements for transmitting the longitudinal forces which occur. In particular, there may be provision for the hollow-chamber profile in the region of the cross-section center of the rail vehicle to have at least one reinforcement element in order to take up the coupling forces which occur in the rail vehicle and to be able to reliably discharge them.

The remaining structural space under the floor plate, in particular in the edge region of the cross-section of the rail vehicle, is available as free assembly space, within which supply and control lines can be guided in cable ducts, without this leading to an increase in the entire structural height of the floor.

This simplifies the assembly of control and supply lines in this region since these no longer have to be laid through the chambers of the hollow-chamber profile in order to be able to dispense with the assembly of cable ducts which are mounted below the hollow-chamber profile to the benefit of the assembly space. A time-consuming and costly endoscopic examination of the hollow-chamber profiles is thereby prevented. Cables and pipes may be prefabricated and laid in cable ducts which are secured in the region of the tapered hollow-chamber profile. This enables pipe and cable guiding within the structural space height of the originally used hollow-chamber profiles with at the same time easy accessibility and thereby a high level of ease of assembly.

The hollow-chamber profile formed by the floor plate and the reinforcement element may have a rectangular, trapezoidal or triangular cross-section. It is particularly preferable for the floor plate and the reinforcement element to form a hollow-chamber profile having a rectangular cross-section.

The reinforcement element is preferably connected to the floor plate in a materially engaging manner. To this end, there may be provision for the floor plate and the reinforcement element to be provided as separate components which are then joined together by means of suitable joining methods, such as, for example, welding, before the floor plate is inserted into the shell of the rail vehicle.

There may also be provision for the reinforcement element to be joined directly to the floor plate or a part-segment of the floor plate, for example, by the floor plate profile being provided as an extruded profile.

In an embodiment of the invention, the floor plate profile may comprise at least two segments which are connected to each other in a materially engaging manner or positive-locking manner. For positive-locking connection, there may be provision for the individual segments to have in the joining region, for example, tongue and groove profiles, by means of which the segments can be connected to each other.

According to an embodiment of the floor profile according to the invention, there is provision for the reinforcement element to have a fixing element for directly or indirectly assembling units and/or system components of the rail vehicle under the floor.

The term “directly assembling” is intended to be understood in the context of the invention to mean that the unit or the system component is not fixed directly to the fixing element but instead retention and/or carrier elements are fixed to the fixing element, to which elements the units or system components can in turn be fixed.

The term “units” is intended to be understood in the context of the invention to be operationally technical devices of the rail system, such as, for example, components of the compressed air system, heating system, drive system and/or braking system, and components of the sanitary supply and disposal systems. The term “system components” is intended to be understood in the context of the invention to be, for example, control lines, signal lines, compressed air lines and supply/disposal lines.

According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provision for the floor plate to have a fixing element in the direction of the track bed. That fixing element may also be used for directly or indirectly assembling units and/or system components of the rail vehicle under the floor.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is provision for a cable duct to be able to be fixed under the floor plate by means of a fixing element of a reinforcement element and a fixing element of the floor plate, by means of which cable duct control lines, signal lines, compressed air lines and/or supply/disposal lines can readily be laid along the longitudinal axis of the rail vehicle.

In another embodiment of the invention, there is provision for the floor profile to have at least two reinforcement elements. In this instance, the reinforcement elements may in particular be arranged so as to be symmetrically spaced apart from the longitudinal center axis of the rail vehicle body. This has the advantage that, in the region of the highest action of force, sufficient capacity is provided to absorb the tensile and pressure forces which occur and the forces can be redirected into the remaining shell structure.

In another embodiment of the invention, there is provision for the floor profile to be positioned on longitudinal carriers of the rail vehicle shell and to be able to be connected thereto in a materially engaging or non-positive-locking/positive-locking manner. In this instance, a releasable non-positive-locking/positive-locking connection of the profile to the longitudinal carriers is particularly preferred since improved accessibility to the underfloor region, in particular to the bogies, can thus be achieved in the event of maintenance.

According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provision for the floor plate to have reinforcement ribs. The reinforcement ribs may extend both in the longitudinal direction and in the transverse direction of the rail vehicle body and increase the torsional rigidity of the floor profile in the direction of extent thereof, respectively. The reinforcement ribs may be joined to the floor plate by means of, for example, welding, or already be produced as a shaped element in the case of extruded floor plates during production of a floor plate segment.

In another embodiment of a floor profile according to the invention, there is provision for a closure plate to be arranged between at least two reinforcement elements in such a manner that there is formed between the reinforcement elements a space which is suitable for guiding air. That air-guiding space can advantageously be used to supply cooling air to the drive motors which are mounted in the bogies. In this instance, there may be provision for the closure plate to have a support element, with which it can be supported with respect to the floor plate in the region between the reinforcement elements in order to reduce or eliminate the occurrence of vibrations of the closure plate during running operation.

Furthermore, the invention proposes a rail vehicle which has a floor profile according to the invention as described above at least in the region of a bogie.

The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to Figures, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the embodiment of a vehicle floor according to the prior art;

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a floor profile according to the invention for a rail vehicle; and

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of a floor profile according to the invention for a rail vehicle.

FIG. 1 shows the embodiment of a vehicle floor 800 above a bogie according to the current prior art. The floor is constructed as a hollow-chamber profile 801. The hollow chambers 802 have to be endoscopically examined prior to the introduction of the lines in order to identify and where applicable to remove from within the hollow chambers 802 any occurrences of contamination which could during operation of the rail vehicle lead to damage to lines guided inside the hollow-chamber profile 801. Alternatively, any control and supply lines are guided through cable ducts 803, which have to be assembled below the hollow-chamber profile 801. This significantly limits the free structural space in particular in the region of the bogies.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment according to the invention of a floor profile 100 for a rail vehicle. The single-shell floor profile 100 for a rail vehicle has a floor plate 110 and at least one reinforcement element 120. The reinforcement element 120 extends parallel with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and forms with the floor plate 120 a hollow-chamber profile 130. In the embodiment shown, the floor plate 110 has reinforcement ribs 111. The reinforcement ribs 111 may extend both in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and transversely relative to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. The floor profile preferably has at least two reinforcement elements 120, 121, the reinforcement ribs 111 being arranged at least in the region between the at least two reinforcement elements 120, 121. The reinforcement element 120 has a fixing element 140 for directly or indirectly assembling units and/or system components of the rail vehicle under the floor. The floor plate 110 also has in the direction of the track bed a fixing element 150 which may be used for directly or indirectly assembling units and/or system components of the rail vehicle under the floor. The floor profile 100 is positioned on longitudinal carriers 700 of the vehicle shell and is connected thereto in such a manner that the longitudinal forces produced can be dissipated adequately into the longitudinal carriers 700.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of a floor profile 100 according to the invention for a rail vehicle. Curved retention members 201, 202 are fixed to the fixing elements 140, 150 by means of suitable securing screws/bolts 151, 151. The curved retention members 201, 202 retain a cable duct 200, through which system components, such as, for example, control lines, signal lines, compressed air lines or supply/disposal lines can be directed. A closure plate 220 is arranged between the two reinforcement elements 120, 121 in such a manner that a space 210 suitable for guiding air is formed between the reinforcement elements. The closure plate 220 has a support element 221, via which the closure plate 220 is supported with respect to the floor plate 110 in order to damp oscillations and vibrations of the closure plate 220 during running operation. 

1-10. (canceled)
 11. A single-shell floor profile for a rail vehicle having a longitudinal axis, the floor profile comprising: a floor plate; and at least one reinforcement element extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and forming a hollow-chamber profile with said floor plate.
 12. The floor profile according to claim 11, wherein said hollow-chamber profile formed by said floor plate and said at least one reinforcement element has a rectangular, trapezoidal or triangular cross-section.
 13. The floor profile according to claim 11, wherein said at least one reinforcement element has a fixing element for directly or indirectly assembling at least one of units or system components of the rail vehicle under said floor plate.
 14. The floor profile according to claim 13, wherein said fixing element is configured to fix a cable duct.
 15. The floor profile according to claim 11, wherein said floor plate has a fixing element facing in a direction of a track bed.
 16. The floor profile according to claim 11, wherein said at least one reinforcement element is at least two reinforcement elements associated with said floor profile.
 17. The floor profile according to claim 16, wherein said floor plate has reinforcement ribs.
 18. The floor profile according to claim 17, wherein said reinforcement ribs are disposed at least in a region between said at least two reinforcement elements.
 19. The floor profile according to claim 16, which further comprises a closure plate disposed between said at least two reinforcement elements and forming a space being suitable for guiding air between said at least two reinforcement elements.
 20. A rail vehicle, comprising: a bogie; and a floor profile according to claim 11 disposed at least in a region of said bogie. 